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Publish Date: 6/4/2005

D.C. stirs state representative

By Kate Martin
The Daily Reporter-Herald
FORT COLLINS — State Rep. Angie Paccione has formed an exploratory committee to see if she has a chance of unseating incumbent U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave in the 4th Congressional District.

Since she won the Fort Collins-area District 53 seat last fall, Paccione, a Democrat, said people have asked her to run against Musgrave.

On Friday, Paccione announced she had formed an exploratory committee to look into a possible run.

“I discounted it early on because of the success I was having in the Statehouse. I was focusing on that work,” Paccione said. “It seems like, to me, you hear that so much, you think there’s some merit to that.”

But she wants to do the research first.

This is not an announcement of her candidacy, she said, but anyone who does run against Musgrave will need to start soon.

Another Democrat, Rep. Wes McKinley of Walsh, also has been named as a possible challenger for the 4th District seat.

“We’d like to put a poll out in the field, in the 4th Congressional District, and find out how dissatisfied people are with the representative they have,” Paccione said. “We want to see if she’s beatable.”

Earlier this year, Musgrave was named one of 10 beneficiaries of the Retain Our Majority Program, which was set up to help protect GOP incumbents facing tight re-election races.

“She’s vulnerable,” Paccione said of Musgrave. “Any incumbent who gets 51 percent of the vote is definitely vulnerable.”

Musgrave won the seat in 2002 with 55 percent of the vote. That number went down to 51 percent in 2004.

Paccione is eligible for two more terms in the Colorado House. She said she’s hoping to have results from the committee by July.

“I think I could be a very good candidate for the 4th, and I want to make sure,” she said. “We’re going to test the waters and see if they are friendly.”

Did anyone else notice how uncomfortable the Mayor looked during the Saturday night press conference about the arrest of Garcia-Gomez? Isn't someone preping him for these important media events? He looked much more at ease taking a dip in the Globeville pool.